A groaning Fiver tossed and turned in his sleep, feeling that dreadfully familiar cold chill run through his body. His visions felt like torture to him, despite saving his friends' lives in the past such as Sandleford's destruction. But this vision was not like the ones he had seen before.

No, it was not that baffling image of long coils of rope shooting out of the darkness. He saw a rabbit, a buck most likely, infected with the White Blindness and mating with a very pretty doe. The mating ritual suffered a dire consequence when the pretty doe's eyes turned a puffy white as two rivers of blood trickled out from her eyes and down her cheeks, terrifying Fiver. Another doe's voice rang out in a very sharp tone, "Milmown must be exiled!" It belonged to Flyairth. Blurred images of the Thinial Owsla driving Milmown, the pretty doe whom mated with the sick buck as Fiver correctly deduced, out of their warren rushed past him in slow motion. Fiver tried in vain to search for Milmown, wondering what became of her or if she perished by the Great Sickness.

Suddenly, a strange movement came from within the bowels of a nearby hidden burrow, greatly concealed by tall clumps of grass. Cautiously, Fiver approached the burrow. It was hard to see as a result of the darkness, but he could scarcely make out Milmown's face as she cared for a newborn litter of kittens. Fiver was amazed to see the doe had lived long enough to give birth. "Help us!" cried a familiar female voice, in desperate need of rescue. Fiver whirled around and there stood Prake and her Owsla hurriedly burying huge piles of dirt inside an open grave, where a small bunch of rabbits frantically scrambled against the wall in attempt to get out while piles of earth clambered down all around them, reaching up to their necks. To his horror, these rabbits were being buried alive by Thinial's Owsla, who showed no remorse nor concern for their actions.

"NO!" Fiver screamed, his eyes snapped open and he woke with a yell. He looked around, realizing he was still lying in a bed of leaves in one of the burrows he shared alongside Hazel, awoken by his brother's cry.

"Fiver, what's the matter?" Hazel asked, concerned.

"I... oh, Hazel..." Fiver gasped, still frightened by what he had seen in his mind. "It was terrible, I saw-"

"What did you see, little brother?"

Before Fiver could confine in his elder brother of his vision, another rabbit entered their burrow abruptly. A doe with a shade of light green fur kept well-groomed and pale brown eyes. Her appearance greatly surprised the two brothers, yet she greeted them with a genuine smile. She had a little resemblance to Flyairth, except for no faint dark pine green marks around her eyes and no tipped ears. Much younger and very lovely.

"Good morning. I trust you had a good night's sleep," she said, bowing politely. "My name is Juniper, and my mother assigned me with a job to give you a tour of the warren. That is, if you want to go silflay first."

After a brief pause, Hazel responded, "Uhh, yes. We'd be delighted for a tour, but silflay sounds like a good idea."

"Come along, then." Juniper happily bounded off.

Hazel gave his brother a shrug, then followed the green colored doe. Fiver limped behind, still shaken by that dreaded vision. Juniper lead them through a tunnel that brought them outside the warren where, to the brothers' astonishment, the warren's inhabitants were nibbling on not just grass but plants or flowers carried out by the does, proudly proclaiming they were freshly picked and ready to be eaten. Wild pansies of multiple colors, golden clumps of dandelions, twigs of red hawthorn berries, and white chamomile flowers with their little yellow centers. Hazel's group had been awoken upon request to join Flyairth's rabbits for morning silflay.

"Where did they get those berries and flowers?" Hazel inquired, curiously.

"From our garden. We grow them inside a specially made burrow that is close to a nearby river," Juniper explained, proudly. "I can show you after silflay."

Hazel and Fiver agreed, then decided to join their companions in nibbling on the plants or berries Flyairth's rabbits left in a pile for others to take and eat. Never having eaten hawthorn berries or chamomile flowers before, the brothers found them to be delicious. Some of the members in Hazel's band ate these said plants or berries, others chewed on grass like they'd normally do. Kehaar just sat calmly, pecking at worms emerging from the wet soil. Hannah was trying to get acquainted with the warren's kittens, whom stared at her with great curiosity, only for their mothers to pull them aside, rather abruptly.

"Is that you, Hazel?" Flyairth's head raised up, sensing their approach and greeted them. "Good morning to you. And to you as well, Fiver. We're glad you could join us."

"Thank you." Hazel nodded, and although Fiver made no response he merely nodded. "We're glad to be out of the bad weather last night. How are you this morning?"

"Very well, thank you." Flyairth replied, smiling. "I trust you met my daughter, Juniper. She volunteered to give you a tour, whilst I coach Blackberry and Lily in their training." Then she gestured to a pair of two alabaster grey does, twins most likely, as they took their place close to Juniper. "These are my two other daughters, Azalea..." the doe with dark grey dipped ears bowed low, "and Orchid..." the second doe with faint grey marks around her eyes bowed low, "They will see to your companions' wants and needs until you are fit to return home."

"Well, thank you very much." Hazel was most impressed by the chief rabbit's attempt to make him and his friends feel most welcome and right at home.

"Must we leave so soon?" Hawkbit complained, slightly distressed. "I like this place a lot, and it's got so many does. Hopefully, I may find myself a nice doe for a mate."

"Me, too." Dandelion agreed. "Everyone here is quite neighborly, the warren's all intact, and it's got good-enough food. Though, perhaps we might go out ourselves and find some flayrah to-"

"We do not allow flayrah in our warren!" Prake's sharp voice cut him off with stern authority, much to his shock, before the chief rabbit cleared her throat to restrain her captain's remark.

"What my Captain meant to say is..." Flyairth began, "that it is grown by Man, and our health comes first. Even though it is considered a rare treat for rabbits, we must make small sacrifices if it means a longer life. The roots and herbs you have recently eaten, along with the grass you've just eaten, these are the only average meal at Thinial."

Every doe or buck in the warren voiced their agreements, much to the displeasure and chagrin of certain bucks in Hazel's band.

To put an end to their complaints, Lily decided to change the subject. "So, uh, Flyairth... have we ever told you about our liberating imprisoned does from the dictatorship of Efrafa?"

"Of course not, but Fiver mentioned it yesterday when explaining the power of this secret river," said Flyairth, shaking her head, though her interest was piqued. "These Efrafan rabbits - they'd beat their does and rape them for breeding. And if this General Woundwort is just as dangerous as you described, how did you get away from him?"

"With Kehaar's help, of course." Pipkin gestured his paw out to the gull, who raised his head at the mention of his name. "He terrified them, drove them off, when the Efrafans had my friends cornered. However, Lily and Clover had been abducted by the Efrafans whilst out searching for Hazel after he got shot by the Farmer when liberating-"

"You were shot by a Man?!" Flyairth fixed a horrified gaze at the Chief of Watership Down.

"Only in the hind leg." Hazel stretched his left hind leg out for her to see, the wound had healed long ago but the scar was still there. "My friends and I were liberating hutch rabbits to join our warren, mostly because we needed more does to avoid bloodshed and quarrel between rivals. Clover, one of the hutch-does, I fell in love with her and longed to free her. Two of her companions were freed alongside her, only two others had been recaptured. If not for me, Clover might have been shot by the Farmer. Fiver's vision helped find my location when I took shelter in a hole, although Lily and Clover assisted in my search, they were captured by the Efrafan Owsla."

"And I determined to go undercover to rescue my beloved doe and Hazel's precious mate from the claws of those wicked Efrafans," Bigwig continued, trying to imitate himself as a storyteller to impress his host. "I used my birth name, Thlayli, and posed myself as a wandering warrior looking for a warren to appreciate my talents. The treatment of those poor does to be used a sex slaves was so cruel, especially how they ripped Blackavar's ears to shreds when he rebelled against the soldiers, it broke my heart..."

Bigwig's cheeks turned a shade of red as he continued, "Course, when I reunited with Lily, we mated in secret and shared our secrets of escape. Except for one problem; Nettle had deliberately ruined our first escape attempt because she was a spy. I was chosen to execute Hyzenthlay under a pylon, but she tricked Nettle to give false information of another break out. I didn't kill her, as it wasn't in my heart to do. It would've devastated Holly, her mate, and the does for they look up to her as their leader. I spared her, liberated Blackavar and lead the does out of Efrafa when the guards fell for Nettle's false news. We left her behind without a shred of forgiveness, even when Nettle pleaded that Orchis threatened to hurt the does if she didn't cooperate. We reunited with Hazel's group under a giant bridge, only to be caught by Woundwort and the Efrafans. Kehaar swooped down out of nowhere and attacked the Efrafans, allowing us to get on a boat we used to escape down river. The only downfall is Nettle redeeming herself by stopping Woundwort from pursuing us, which ended her life too fast."

Thinial's inhabitants listened carefully to this story. Of all the rabbits filled with admiration, Flyairth was the most impressed. "That is quite remarkable," she praised. "It must have taken great courage to risk your lives."

"It sounds romantic," Juniper complimented, deeply touched by Hazel and Bigwig's devotion to their mates.

"Hold on!" Prake interrupted, staring at Hazel with a neutral frown. "You liberated hutch rabbits to join your warren? And you mated with this…this Clover?"

"Yes, we had to." Hazel responded, somewhat puzzled by the Captain's rude behavior.

"Did it not occur to you that these hutch rabbits might be infected by the Blindness? Men could destroy you all by giving a hutch rabbit the Blindness, then pass it down to your warren!"

Appalled, Hazel grew offended by this atrocious accusation. He stood up on all four legs as his dark expression scorned. "How dare you speak of such things about Clover! None of the hutch rabbits we rescued were infected by the Blindness! They were rescued back a season ago, and none of us had been sick since! So, what proof have you got that rabbits raised in a hutch could infect a warren? If you're trying to get a rise out of me-"

Suddenly a harsh foot stomp set the warren's inhabitants on high alert as a female officer came rushing over and shouting, "Flyairth-rah! Come look, there's something you need to see!"

"What is it?" Flyairth asked. "What's the matter?"

"I found a Man..." the officer reported as she panted, "he lies beyond the Gnarled Border, but he-"

At that one word, the Thinial rabbits panicked and scurried back inside the open tunnels, carrying their youngsters by the scruff of their necks, including their newly picked plants. Hazel's band scampered behind to join them. Kehaar got hilariously stampeded by the rabbits, before he crawled back inside the warren with Hannah in tow. However, Lily felt there was something else in the officer's message that wasn't finished.

"Excuse me?" The ginger doe politely questioned the Owsla officer. "But did you see if the Man had a gun, a snare or a dog with him?"

"No, miss. I heard a horrid cry and went to investigate," the officer replied. "He lies very still on the ground beyond, but it is best not to approach him." And she left, hurriedly.

Since when do rabbits panic when the Man has not brought a weapon or elil to kill the rabbits? Lily thought. Puzzled, she decided to go investigate but she needed her friends' assistance. She found Bluebell and Hazel, asking for their company to investigate the matter. At first, they refused in fear a trap may have been set up. Lily understood this, but she determined to get to the bottom of this, so they agreed if Bigwig could join them, as he never let his mate out of his sight.

Against the Owsla's orders, the four rabbits ventured out of the warren to investigate. Only Flyairth accompanied them, half angry at their disobedience and half concerned for their well-being. The group crept to the borderline of the cemetery, approaching the iron gate cautiously. They were a short distance away when Bigwig halted sharply.

"On the path, look! Something black and quite large," the lion buck pointed it out to them. "Can you see it?"

Hazel hopped a little nearer, peering ahead at this strange object his Owsla Captain had spotted. Something large and black stood over a tall form that lay stretched out on the dirt path, making strange cawing noises that felt dreadfully familiar to him. "Yes, I can see it. But surely it can't be what I think it is."

"Then why does it sound like a corvil?" Bluebell trembled, probably flashbacking to that horrifying night he and his group spent in the graveyard a season ago.

"No, it's too large to be a corvil..." Hazel said. "I don't think it's seen us, nor do I think the creature lying before it is alive at all."

"Do you think it's a trap?"

"I don't believe it's a trap. Still, whatever it is, we need to get a closer look."

The group approached forward meter by meter to a thick bush of nettles and brambles, Flyairth following them somewhat hesitantly, until suddenly they halted in their tracks. What they had discovered, they were unable to believe the sight before their eyes. Lying on the path, lifeless in the sunlight and surrounded by huge black birds, lay a man. He was on his back and fully clothed, boots and woolen cap still on him. From the scuffled trail he left, they could see that the human had been attacked a short distance from the footpath, causing him to run blindly into the cemetery in order to escape, only to fail. His skull had been cracked by a violent blow to the head, most likely when he fell and lost his balance, the skull had hit a nearby bloodied headstone. His face looked distorted, screwed up with the most horrible look of fear and terror, along with scratches of vicious claws or beaks marked on his face. His killers surrounded him with savage delight, pecking at his face and clothes. Ravens, they were, yet larger than any ravens that Hazel's group have ever seen.

"Frith and Inlé!" Bluebell gasped, never in his life did he see such a gruesome sight.

"Those ravens killed the Man?" Lily gawked, correctly figuring it out.

"Let him alone." Bigwig's paw brushed over her own, trying to ease her shock. "I don't care whether he's dead or not, or whether the ravens killed him or not."

Flyairth, who was plainly frightened, remained alert in case the Man came to life and attempted to make an attack. "Hadn't we better go back and warn everyone? It must be dangerous, surely? Men - even a dead one like this - they're always dangerous."

"No, no, it's okay," assured Bigwig, growing impatient. "He won't attack us since he's dead."

"Wait, look!" Hazel's ears cocked up. "A hrududu is coming here! Do you see it?"

As the rabbits peered from the mouth of their hiding spot, the vehicle bounced and skidding up the road toward the iron bars. The car reached the entrance of the cemetery, slithering to a halt a few yards away. Two men exited the car and used a key to unlock the gates that kept them out of the cemetery. The ravens, alarmed by their presence, took to the sky and abandoning the scene of their crime, but not before one of the ravens whispered with a sneer, "The Queen of Darkhaven will be impressed with us."

Flyairth, trembling, turned and would have bolted back to her warren if Lily had not restrained her, despite the chief doe being larger than her. She had to ask for Bigwig's assistance in the end to hold Flyairth down.

"Stop it! We're not in danger!" scolded Lily, trying to calm the scared chief rabbit. "Pull yourself together, Flyairth! This is not the time to go tharn!"

"The Men, they have come to-" Flyairth croaked, her legs kicking ang plunging to free herself.

"It's because of the dead man lying in the ground! They've come for him, that's what it is."

"How would you know that?"

Nobody answered the question for their attention kept sorely focused on the two men examining the body, reacting in disgust or horror. After recollecting themselves for a moment, one of the men spoke to his partner.

"Get his shoulders, David! I'll carry his legs."

"Do you think he still has a chance to live, Alan?" asked the second man whom is called David.

"I don't think so. Let's get him into the jeep first, then we take him to the police."

The two men managed to lift their heavy burden and carried him out of the cemetery, hauling him into the jeep. Catching his breath, David locked the cemetery gate, then boarded the car with his alley as he spoke, "Not too fast going back, Alan. I want to examine him a bit."

The hrududu started up again, then set off in the opposite direction from which it had come, and the silence returned. It was a considerable time however, before the rabbits decided to return to the warren. Flyairth was staggering and could hardly keep up. It was the encouragement of Lily that she was able to reach a concealed tunnel beneath the yew tree that took them to the great chamber, where the first rabbit they came upon was Fiver.

"Everything all right out there, Hazel?" the runt asked his elder brother.

"Yes, we're fine," Hazel calmly assured him. "We found a dead man at the borderline of the Stone Orchards. It appears a flock of ravens had killed him, then two more humans came to take away the body. The ravens left as soon as the men came."

"Did you say ravens had killed a human?!" Juniper's head poked out of a burrow close by. "How did they do it?"

"We don't know yet," Lily explained, though her face scrunched by the gory memory. "His skull broke upon impact on a headstone when he fell during the attack. Though, why the ravens attacked him I have no idea. They only attack to defend their nests. Are there any ravens living around here?"

"There are no ravens living amongst the Stone Orchards, thank Frith." Juniper noticed her mother's nervous and restless posture, feeling a tad bit concerned for her. "What's wrong with my mother?"

"I think Flyairth is in shock over seeing a dead human," Lily assumed.

"Do you need anything, Mother?"

Hearing her daughter's voice, Flyairth gradually relaxed and approached her daughter to nuzzle her forehead. "It's nothing to worry about, my child. Though, I need to speak to Prake to spread the word of what we've seen." Flyairth turned to Lily, remembering how the ginger doe had prevented her from giving away their hiding spot when the ravens and men had come, and her soothing words to guide her back home safely. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." Lily nodded, relieved the chief rabbit recovered.

"Juniper, why don't you continue with your tour for our guests to take their minds off today's recent events?"

"Yes, Mother."

After the elder doe had left, Juniper brought Lily and her companions (later joined by the rest of Hazel's band) to another chamber. It was much bigger than the great hall. A spring, a rabbit-made spring or irrigation that had been built to connect to what they heard to be a distance river. The chamber had a few small holes left open in the ceiling, the light of the sun peered through to allow multiple herbs to grow, while a few others would grow in the shade. The rest of the ceiling was ripened with more roots or plants above for easy picking. Many herbs, flowers, and berries grew on either vines attached to the wall and ceiling or on the ground. The floor was blanketed with green parsley, thyme, laurel, burdock and overgrown with white chamomile, golden dandelions or buttercups, pink or white valerian, multi-colored primroses. Above them on the ceiling grew never ending vines of wild pansies, dusty white sage leaves with purplish blue petals, bright yellow witch hazel flowers, red hawthorn berries, black or orange buckthorn berries, shrubbery of tiny laurustinus buds or spiky hedge-like lavender.

"Welcome to the Garden of Life, the heart and pride of Thinial!" Juniper announced, proudly.

The Watership band gazed at the secret garden in silent incredible astonishment.

"Oh my!" Blackberry awed.

"How incredible." Pipkin said.

"It's a…veritable… wonderful… paradise!" Dandelion admitted.

"I've never seen anything like it." Silver was amazed.

"It's beautiful!" Lily praised.

Even Bluebell loved it, feeling much better after today's bloody discovery of the Man's corpse had been put out of his mind. Hawkbit wanted to take a bite out of one of the green plants, only to get his nose swatted, rather lightly, by Juniper, who scolded him that it is not for eating unless there's an emergency.

"I'd just knew you'd loved it. We're very proud to have it." Juniper smiled at their impressed reactions, glad to see her guests loved their first view of the garden. "You know, even though this garden belongs to the warren, this place is actually my mother's personal project. When she brought the survivors from Cottington's Hill, she was at first depressed that there was not much life to be found to build a new warren on. But when she found the river beneath our warren, she wanted to make a place that could survive and even flourish even in this desolate place. Every chance she would get, she would come here to tend to the plants here… like they were her own kits."

As Juniper spoke, her initial pride and excitement slowly became a slight longing mixed with a light jealousy. "Though to be honest, sometimes I wonder… even after having me and my sisters… if she loved this garden more than us, given that she spends more time in here than with her own family."

"You know, Hazel, we should try to recreate something like this back home," Bigwig suggested, sniffing at a cluster of red primroses while wanting to change the subject.

"Perhaps, but it might take a long time to create such a garden," replied Hazel.

"Oh, it wouldn't take that long." Juniper shrugged like it was no big deal. "You said you had a river beneath your warren like ours, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but the distance between it and the warren is quite a trek to make," Hazel replied, "unlike here where the river and the warren are much closer together."

"Doesn't matter. I can show you a few tricks my mother showed me on bringing water from the river to the garden. I can even teach you all how to grow herbs, if you'd like!" Juniper's perky face moved up in Hazel's own face, mildly startling him.

"Uh, thank you, but Blackberry and Lily are the students you need to teach."

"Oh yes, I'd like to learn how to create something like this!" Lily added, eager to do it.

"Me, too." Blackberry added.

Still sore about the swat on his nose, Hawkbit massaged his nose gently as he grumbled, "Eh! It's not every day an outspoken doe and a former hutch rabbit want to become healing matrons like Flyairth."

Juniper's face twitched in puzzlement. "Former hutch rabbit?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you and your mother. I used to live in a hutch and lived with humans on a farm," Lily explained. "Except a few seasons ago my home burned down, the humans were brutally murdered by General Woundwort. He destroyed my home and... are you okay, Juniper?"

This revelation made Juniper grow uneasy. At first, the rabbits feared she had gone tharn, until the green colored doe was brought back to earth by Blackberry's poking her arm. "Err, I'm fine. I just... I had no idea you used to be a-"

"If this is because of what Prake said about hutch rabbits infected by the Blindness, I will not hear of such a thing!" Bigwig growled, his mind reeling back to early morning when Prake insulted Hazel's mate and her prejudice against hutch rabbits. "My Lily is as healthy as your lot! She joined our band long before we made a home at Watership Down. If Prake's got a problem with hutch rabbits, then it's her loss!"

"Of course," Juniper nodded before looking away sadly. "I'm sorry for what Prake said this morning. Some rabbits here can be paranoid when it comes to humans."

"I guess that explains Flyairth's behavior when we found the dead Man and those two humans who came here," Hazel figured, then brushed it off like the matter was resolved. "No worries, she'll get over it."

"I doubt it," Fiver's voice whispered in barely a hush.

"Pardon?" Hazel cocked his head down in his direction, not sure if he heard him.

"Oh, nothing."

To change the subject, Juniper put on an awkward grin and wanted to resume the tour. The rabbits wandered around the garden, although Fiver was the only one who did not fail to notice Juniper's anxious or fearful expression. If Prake and Flyairth had a terrible aversion to humans or hutch rabbits connected to humans, this warren might not be a safe place for his friends at all.